Canned food will do right by you in an emergency.

Stockpiling food is one of the no-brainers when you are prepping for a potential disaster. Most grocery stores stock less than two days’ worth of food, which will quickly get gobbled up when a panic hits. Store shelves could go bare in a matter of hours.

When you’re preparing your emergency food supplies, don’t ignore canned foods. Get them double-bagged at the grocery store. They take up little space because they stack very well.

As far as taste, calories and sodium are concerned, that’s not what you should be concerned about when it comes to surviving the first few days of a crisis. When you’re hungry and don’t have much else to eat, canned food will taste pretty darn good to you and your family. Calories, sodium and weight-watching are the last things you should worry about in a crisis situation. You can use all the calories you can get in that scenario, and if the stress is causing you to sweat, the sodium will come in handy.

Don’t get the wrong idea here; buying and storing freeze-dried and dehydrated survival food is a great idea. Many brands offer 25 years of storage life and they store easily. But it’s a very good idea to also keep a good stock of canned foods in your basement and in another location.

Here are 7 reasons why you should include canned foods in your survival stash:

1. Price. When you purchase items in bulk, you can save up to 75 percent by acquiring mostly canned foods rather than freeze-dried or dehydrated foods. Even if you’re not able to buy in bulk, you will still save money with canned foods.

2. Long-Lasting. Many canned foods have a shelf life of between one and several years. You should still rotate your supply occasionally and eat the contents if the expiration date is getting close, but there’s peace of mind knowing that most canned foods last a long time.

3. Variety. People will eat the same thing over and over again if they’re hungry enough, but everyone appreciates having choices. You can acquire a wide variety of canned foods that should keep pretty much everybody in the family happy for a while.

4. Nutrition. Canned foods can be nutritious and rich in protein, which you and your family will need for keeping up their strength. And again, don’t worry about calories. You’ll need those extra calories when you’re in survival mode.

5. Water. There’s very little water in freeze-dried and dehydrated foods (although there is usually a small amount), but most canned foods contain the water that will make preparation easier. Yes, that also makes them heavier, but that shouldn’t matter if you’re able to stay put to ride out a crisis situation.

6. Familiarity. Most families normally eat foods such as chicken, beef, ham, fish, vegetables, stews, beans and pasta, all of which plus many more are available in canned form. In a time of crisis, familiarity will go a long way toward “normalizing” what you and your fellow family members are going through.

7. Safe storage. Bugs and rodents can sometimes infiltrate boxes and bags, but seldom do they break through a can. If you find a little creature that’s strong enough to do that, hire it for your prepper team.
A surprising number of foods that you probably eat on a regular basis are available in canned form. Nutritious and rich in protein, they include vegetables, soups, meats, fish, stews, beans, pasta and a lot more. If the time comes when you need to rely on the canned food that you have wisely stored, you’ll be glad if you provided your family and yourself with a nice variety.

Don’t forget several manual can openers. (This reminds me to buy another one as I gave the “survivor” one to a niece who was home from college.) Glad to get this info on cans. A few years ago I started saving a few cans, but most were past the expiration dates, so I tossed them. That wasted money. I now try to watch the dates and give away (to family). I rarely use canned foods due to the high sodium content and the difference in taste compared to fresh or frozen. Still, I knew that in an emergency I wouldn’t worry about sodium for a few days. Again, thanks for this info…

Those are not expiration dates; they are “best if used by” dates, Although rotating stock to keep current is a good idea, most canned goods are edible for several years beyond the BIUB although flavor and nutritional content might be degraded. I seem to recall that some 50+ year old canned goods were retrieved from an unsuccessful Antarctic expedition and found to be edible.

I was shopping with my Dad one time and I was looking at the use by date on the can. Pop asked “what are you doing” so I told him. He laughed so hard he struggled to speak for a while but then said “use by date ? Use by date ? …. Alan, during the second world war I was eating McCullokies soup that had been canned before the FIRST bloody world war !!

Watch out for cheap canned goods which are loaded with HFCS, such as spaghetti sauce and sloppy joe sauce.
Better to store these items without that stuff, or can your own. Also you can store canned tomatoes so that you can quickly make your own.

After reading the comments, I had a thought. What is your opinion of buying large (commercial) cans of food and processing them in pint or quart jars? I would use a pressure cooker and process by the same directions provided by the pressure cooker manufacturer for that product. Glass jars and canning lids hold up very well.

I am saving my extra dried food such as beans,rice.flour.powdered milk.sugar..I vacumm pack all of this food in quart canning jars. It cost me about $1.00 per quart but if you are carefull when you remove the lid you can reuse them over again.I use a vacuum pump that was used to draw a vacuum from aircondishiner I bring it down to about 29lbs. pressure.I have some cornmeal that was saved like that over 10years ago .It was just as fresh as the day I saved it.As of now I have about 600 qts. saved that way plus I do have a lot of canned goods also

I was wondering about what storage temp for my survival food. I want to keep food both in Florida in my winter place and in my log cabin up on the NH./Canada border. FL is hot during the summer when gone and our cabin in winter can have temps below minus 30 degrees. Was told your survival food, which we like, wouldn’t make anything over a couple years in storage. Suggestions!

The cold is no problem at all – because there is no water to freeze, the super cold temps shouldn’t affect the foods. The hot is more difficult. There are oils in the foods that could go rancid in hot storage and all vitamins break down into less nutritious parts in the heat. Do have an option for below-ground storage in FL? That can help regulate heat without additional cost.

Canning your own food can only go so far. You are limited to the food that is on hand and available, the amount of time that you have available to do your own canning, and your skills to can your own food. For a few dollars you can go to the store and get a valued item already canned for you and labeled too.

Like I said, canning your own food is very inexpensive, but, you need to supplement your food stores with other foods and their preservative means such as other canned goods, frozen and freeze-dried or dehydrated means.

All of us have gone to the food stores lately, only to get sticker shock on the price of can goods that are for sale. I remember when can goods cost 10 to 15 cents per canned item and you got 16 ounces of food. Now that same item can cost you upwards to $1.50 or more per can item and there is less food in the can. Even a simple soup costs over $1.20, at least, where I live it does. The only way you can increase your can good stores is when an item comes on sale or if you shop at a dollar store.

It can take a long time to wait for a sale to come around; but, in most cases that is what you will have to do. And when a sale is on – well, that is when you need to stock up on your supplies, if the stores will let you. This year all the stores limited the amount of can vegetables you can take 6 cans per brand.

Anyway, if canned corn, green beans, and peas come on sale, I go out of my way to stock up, that is to say at lease 72 cans of each vegetable. I usually plan on at lease a years supply. This way I have until next year for the sale to come back and replenish my stores. As we go through the year, I have noticed that the prices on these can goods just go up and up and the canned good sales have decreased and decreased.

I have adapted a new strategy that should help me and my family make it throughout the next year. My strategy is this, each month I will look at my food stores and see what has been used. If my wife uses 3 cans of corn, 2 cans of peas and a can of carrots; I will have her go out and replace them the best she can. If we can not afford replacing all of them; then she will replace what she can and save the rest for the next shopping trip to finish replacing the rest of the can goods. Should a sale pop up, then we will stock up again. We make sure that we don’t over stock on the same vegetables; but rather, we get a well rounded account of all the vegetables. What is bought new is placed in the back so that the oldest is used first.

This leads me to storing canned goods. You need a cool place to keep your canned goods as well as you store bought canned goods. I use to keep them in my garage. Most of the favored canned goods were being used up like corn, green beans, and peas, but, other canned goods were not so lucky. I had 24 cans of spinach whereby the water in these cans had evaporated. That’s right, no kidding, I had cans of dried spinach that went bad because the water had evaporated from the can. I didn’t know that could happen. I had to throw the cans away. That was a waste of money, time and space. I then moved my storage of canned goods to a closet in the spare bedroom which was converted into a study and exercise room for my wife. This way the food is closer to the kitchen, no spiders to freak out the wife and easy to get to and take inventory as to what is being used up.

An Important Note: Make sure you and your family understands that your canned goods is not an extension of the pantry; but a extension on surviving in an emergency situation. It is imperative that these extra food stores remain intact as much as possible. All too often when people see food they will eat it because they don’t have an understanding that is a survival tactic for you and the family. They need to respect that this food is for the entire family and not just for one’s own personal use. For example, I had a son that moved back in with me and my wife. He ate all the pears and started eating all the peaches until I noticed the problem. I had him go out and replace all the fruit that he had eaten and the same brand name too. The fruit was not on sale and it cost him a lot of money to replace what he had eaten. It put him on notice that eating for free isn’t really free. I laid the law down on him. He is to eat only what his mom puts on the table. If he wants something special, he is to go out and buy it himself. If he wants something that I have stored he is to ask first or he will find himself out of the house.

Anyway, with the canned goods inside the house the temperature is cooler than the garage’s 90 plus temperature. Be sure to guard against any possible emergency situation like in my case Earthquakes. You don’t want your glass jars breaking. Do take precautions when storing your canned goods.

I opened a can of peas that I stored for Y2K [remember that one?] just to see if they were good. The juice in the can had turned a slight yellow but the smell and taste of the peas where good not great but good. That was in Aug. of 2014.
Canned food for storage [?], you bet!

I have a shelf unit and have labeled the shelves with 2015, 2016, 2017. I put the cans on the appropriate shelves when I come from the store. I am currently working on the ones labeled 2014. I found this works best for me. I keep well stocked at all times. I will not starve and have enough to share if others are.

I HAVE FOUND THAT CANNED FOODS EXSPERATION DATES ARE SELL BY DATES. CANNED FOODS CAN LAST 3 YEARS PAST THERE EXSPERATION DATE. TOMATO SAUCES AND SOME CANNED MEATS MAY NOT TASTE GOOD , BUT STILL WILL NOT MAKE YOU SICK. IF YOU LIKE CHICKEN IN THE CAN GET IT IN WATER FORM, NOT OIL. NOTE: TOMATO SAUCE WILL SOME TIME EXSPAND AND RUPTURE THE CAN, SO WATCH YOUR SAUCES CLOSELY.

My source is personal experience. I have eaten canned beans, corn, green peas, to name a few that were ten years past their date. Four or five years, many times. I have never gotten sick. I’m an old man, who grew up before they even put dates on cans. A little common sense, and inspection after opening, and you will be fine.

I purchase in bulk and in locals stores when they go on sale (10 for 10) etc. I keep them in metro racks A) Home canned, B) Commercial Canned. Keeping divisions between meats and fruit/veggies. If you have extra space during your canning process, fill jars with H2O and can the water and put some aside. Can be used in a emergency to irrigate a wound or sub as a saline sollution.

Am new at reading this website. Another good thing to help you find or have for a food source is to learn what you can eat from your yard, park, or neighborhood. There are lot of common plants and “weeds” that are good to eat all around you. Many grow as weeds and are pulled out of our gardens. Many flowers are good to eat

Just want to point out that the local Estate Sales taking place everywhere in this country, every weekend are an absolute GOLDMINE of cheap, useful items for prepping. EVERYTHING you could possibly think of or need, you can pick up at these sales. Including canned goods and barter items. The list is endless. Many times it is whatever you can fit in a bag for a dollar or two as the main objective of them is to empty the house out.. You are only limited by your space constraints and your imagination. Go to http://www.estatesales.net and put in your zipcode and the mileage you want to travel and there they are. You want to stretch your prepping dollars, these sales are the place to do it. BE CAREFUL though, you could find so much good stuff you could turn into a HOARDER! LoL.

Don’t ever think you can’t afford a supply of stored food, cans, jars or otherwise, yes you can. Each time you go to the store, buy an extra container of something and stash it specifically for your supply. (Don’t forget to rotate stored food). You will be surprised how fast your supply will build up and how good you feel about not going hungry when there is a crisis. You might even have enough to share with your neighbors.

In 1976 I canned many pints of CARP.In 2010 I gave my LAST jar to my son.My daughter stopped over to his house and they were fighting over the last jar.Scale the fish,gut the fish,remove the head,pack the jar with raw fish,add salt and some vegetable oil and pressure can.Still very good to eat after 34 years.Carp have many small bones but the canning process makes them soft. Rick S.

Rick, I have a dozen or more grass carp in my pond I need to take out and have been trying to figure out what to do with them not to waste them. canning seems perfect. I do not know what or how to pressure can, any advice? Thanks.

I agree with all the comments above. cans are perfectly good for storage for emergencies . My mother was an army wife and she taught me all those tips as a child. I was blessed to have all those survival tips taught to me. I”m 67 now I’m just starting to share those tips with others… who would have thought they would have been necessary in the land of the free and the home of the brave!

In the late 60’s when I got married we went to visit the great grand mother at her home. I ended up going to the basement and noticed large jars of home canned food. About half had rounded bulging lids! These had been the from the 20’s. L:ook at all lids for gas buildup. I see anchovie cans on the grocery shelves today bulging – when opened they stink horribly. Bob

YOU ARE ABOLUTELY RIGHT! Canned foods are ideal for DIP (Defend In Place) events. Also, canned foods keep a lot longer than the posted “Experation Date” stamped on the canS … those dates are arbitrarily set by dumb-ass bureaucrats and paranoid corporate lawyers as a liabilty issue.

The trick is making sure your cashe of canned foods are stored somewhere cool and dry, where they won’t freeze. We rotate ours every five years just to make sure we don’t forget completely that they are out there.

We once found shelves of home canned foods in a remote homestead root cellar while hunting a fugative. We were stunned that some remained sealed and safe to eat. Investigating later, we discovered the homestead was abandoned during the “Dirty 30’s”!!!

I’ve written an economical stock up and rotation plan to go in my next book I’m working on; SURVIVAL 2.0, an extention of our P4P manual; SURVIVAL 101-How to Bug Out and Survive the Frist 72 Hours.

Me too Orrin We have very little monthy money (less than 1200.00 Per month totalpeople2people) but I manage to prepp a little so we can last for several months comfortabley and longer not so much. It can be done. Please feel free to send me anything via email that’s free. thank-you.

Mr. Orrin Knutson
that sound good, my wife and i are just starting. saving and trying to get what we might need. if you would not mind sending me an early draft of survival 101. I Thank you in advance. LL

A little common sense would go a long way here people. Canned foods are cooked in the can, sealed and the food inside of the can is good well beyond the expiration date. Studies have shown that canned foods properly prepared have lasted for several many years. Just try and use the little gray cells you were given… When you open a can, if it looks good, smells good and tastes good then eat it. It doesn’t matter how old it is as long as the can is undamaged and the contents are uncontaminated. If you want to survive, then you have to think…

James is correct. A study by the US Army states that canned meats,vegetables and Jam were in excellent condition after 46 years. Washington State University summary is at whatcom.wsu.edu/family/facts/shelflif

I buy a lot of the big canned fruits and vegetables at Costco. I’ve used cans beyond the shelf date and never had any problem with it. I freeze tomato sauces, pineapple since 5 lbs. is a lot for 2 people to use before it spoils. Of course, if the can is dented or food spurts out after it’s opened, toss it. I also dry my own fruits and veggies when they go on sale or my garden gives me an extra abundant amount during the summer.

Everything I have read about it says that if the can is dry, undented & not rusting, the contents should be safe well beyond the date on the can. There may be a decline in nutrients, or texture, but you should not have to pitch cans out just because of the date. That said, if a can of food is much past the date, use your nose & eyes. Food that doesn’t smell right should never be used, even if “the date” says it’s still good. In my area there are several stores that actually specialize in carrying food products that other stores unload because of the dates. The savings are often HUGE, & if you shop carefully, & store even more carefully, you can add a lot to your pantry. Dollar stores offer a lot of food bargains, too. Not always the brands you know, but often 80% cheaper. Buy stuff that you eat anyway, & as Frank suggests, rotate it. You can write your own “in” date on the tops of cans & use the oldest first, & add extra cans to your cart every single time you go to the store. They add up.

James, the date on the can only means that the contents are guaranteed to have the nutrition stated on the label by that date (or the company can be fined). The nutrition gradually diminishes, and the food may slightly change consistency (i.e. get mushier), but will be surprisingly healthy for decades. If a can is severely dented, if it has lost its seal (leaking), or the ends “bounce” when you push on them, then toss. Do not sniff it if the ends are bulging because it probably has botulism. In the Army I ate WWII canned rations in the 1980’s, and nobody on Ft. Jackson got sick from it. I know because I spoke to the doctors who performed the two autopsies that summer. One died from dieting during basic training (salad in stomach, no WWII rats), and the other died from heat (dehydrated). So, if the dieter had eaten the rations, he probably would have lived! The Army has done extensive studies on stored foods, even testing jarred food that was 200 years old from a sunken ship. It was still nutritious and safe to consume! (So yes, jarred food will outlast cans, especially for highly acidic foods like tomato products.) Food pantries in my area will still distribute food that is 1.5 years past the date, but again, you can keep food at home for much longer, preferably in a cool, dry environment.

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